Broadway Theatre (Cape Girardeau, Missouri)

Built in 1921, it is a two-story red brick building with a white glazed brick façade. The structure originally included a theater and storefronts on the ground level, with office space above.^[2] The theatre formally opened on December 24, 1921, with the showing of The Sheik, a 1921 American silent romantic drama film, directed by George Melford, starring Rudolph Valentino and Agnes Ayres.^[3] The building had a seating capacity of 1269 when it first opened, and was described as having "all the conveniences and safeguards humanly possible".^[3] By the next month in January 1922, the local newspaper reported that the theatre "was packed to overflowing and hundreds were turned away".^[4]

The theatre closed for the first time in October 1960, and was then acquired by Kerasotes, who reopened it in 1973 as a first-run movie theatre. Approximately ten years later, it was closed again, and its final reincarnation was as a dollar movie theatre in the early 1990s. The theater finally closed its door permanently in 1997.^[5]

In the early 2020s, local business owner Suzanne Hightower spearheaded preservation efforts for the long-vacant Broadway Theater building, saving it from demolition.^[6] The theater had a major fire March 31, 2021.^[7] In 2023, the Cape Girardeau city council voted to redevelop the theater with retail and residential spaces.^[8] In 2024, phase one of the project had been completed.^[9]

• Broadway Theatre at Cinema Treasures